NEW 



NEW 



289 



amiss in this husbandry ; but rather 

 an improvement. 



But, to return to my subject : 

 Every one must be easily convin- 

 ced, that plants in general receive 

 a greater degree of nourishment, if 

 the ground about their roots be fre- 

 quently stirred during their growth. 

 We find the benefit of this in our 

 gardens. We see that bare weed- 

 ing does not answer so well as hoe- 

 ing, among the plants we cultivate 

 in them. 



The great advantage of horse 

 hoeing husbandry must appear, if 

 we only attend to our ordinary me- 

 thod of cultivating Indian corn, 

 which diflfers but little from that 

 husbandry. If ploughing and hoe- 

 ing were to be totally neglected, 

 while the plants are growing, we 

 should have no good crops. On the 

 contrary, the deeper we plough the 

 intervals, and the oftener we stir 

 the mould with the hand hoe, the 

 better is our crop. And why should 

 not the advantage of the same cul- 

 ture be equally great, when appli- 

 ed to most of the plants which we 

 cultivate ? The more the ground is 

 opened by frequent stirrings, the 

 more vegetable nourishment it will 

 receive from the atmosphere ; and 

 the roots will find a freer passage 

 in extending themselves after their 

 food. They will, therefore, receive 

 a greater quantity ; and their 

 growth and perfection will be an- 

 swerable. 



I have not the least suspicion 

 that barley and oats will fail of re- 

 ceiving great advantage from this 

 culture ; in both of which 1 have 

 had some experience. Several 

 years of late I have applied this cul- 

 37 



ture to barley, in single rows or 

 ridges three feet apart ; and have 

 never once failed of gaining at the 

 rate of 40 bushels per acre. The 

 grain has been perfectly clear from 

 seeds of weeds, and more full and 

 large than when cultivated in the 

 common way. After ploughing the 

 ground, and harrowing it, I form 

 the ridges with the cultivator. I 

 sow the seeds with a most simple 

 drill of my own inventing. The 

 weeds are killed, and the plants 

 earthed, by passing the cultivator 

 between the rows, with the addition 

 of but little hand hoeing. That it 

 does well for hemp, has been pro- 

 ved by trials in this country. None 

 will doubt the advantage of it in 

 raising potatoes, our common cul- 

 ture of which is so similar to that 

 of Indian corn. But if they were 

 set in drills, instead of hillocks, the 

 produce would be greater, in both 

 corn and potatoes, as 1 have found 

 by several trials. 



The new husbandry may as well 

 be applied to all siliquose plants, as 

 pease, beans, &lc. and to all escu- 

 lent roots,as parsnips, carrots,beets, 

 and the like. The same may be 

 said with regard to cabbages, aspa- 

 ragus, and most kinds of pot herbs. 

 The trials that have hitherto been 

 made upon such plants, in this 

 country, have been so successful, 

 that I trust the practice will soon 

 become general. See the Rev. Mr. 

 Eliot's Essays, p. 111. 



These kinds of plants require so 

 much less labour, in the drill way, 

 than is usually bestowed on them 

 in gardens, that when they are cul- 

 tivated for the market, or for feed- 

 ing of cattle, they should by all 



